Full-time: HULL CITY ARE BACK IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE!
For the third time in the last eight years Hull have been promoted to the top-flight! They thoroughly deserved it here: they were the more accomplished team in an admittedly scruffy match that Diamé embellished with a sweet winning goal. Hats of to Hull. Guardiola, Mourinho, Klopp, Wenger, Pochettino, Koeman, Conte: Steve Bruce is coming for you all!
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90+4 min: Dawson hurls himself in front of a half-volley by Joao. It bashes against the defender’s arm but there’s no way the ref can award a penalty for that as there was no way the defender could have got out of the way.
90+1 min: Wednesday go Route 1 at last, ballooning a long diagonal bal towards Nuhiu. The striker challenges for it with Jakupovic, who, for once, decides to catch rather than punch. And then just to sicken Wednesday fans even further, he holds his head as if seriously hurt by Nuhiu’s honest jump, and the ref, as always, buys it and awards a freekick.
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90 min: Wednesday have four minutes in which to do something that they haven’t even come close to doing in the previous 90 ...
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Hull’s last substitution: Maguire on for Diamé, who gets rapturous congratulations from the Hull fans, who are hugely outnumbered by Wednesdayites but look set to be signing for much longer tonight.
Wednesday’s last substitution: Joao on for Pudil. With yet another striker on the pitch, will Wednesday get the equaliser they crave? Will they even get a shot on target?
86 min: Often when teams deploy a giant targetman, they begin banging the ball at him with lazy predictability. Wednesday have done the opposite so far, practically ignoring Nuhiu entirely since his introduction.
Hull substitution: Meyler on for Hernandez.
84 min: Lee slips a nice pass through to Forestieri, who had invited the pass with a clever run into the let-hand side of the box. Forestieri swipes the ball back across the face of goal, but Hull clear.
83 min: Here comes one of those counter-attacks Wednesday must fear. Diamé strides forward from midfield before playing a simple ball through to Hernandez, who takes a needless touch and the swings his foot at the ball with undue nonchalance, wafting it six yards wide of the target.
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82 min: Hull substitution: Clucas on for Snodgrass, who makes no attempt to pretend he isn’t disgusted at the decision.
81 min: It’s just not happening for Wednesday. But it wasn’t really happening for Hull either until Diamé stepped up and produced the game’s one real moment of class.
78 min: Yet another wasteful pass by Wednesday when in a promising position. This time Hooper was the culprit but they’ve all been guilty at some point in this game. And they may be punished again here as Hull roll forward anew. Huddlestone clips a dinky pass over to Odubajo, who lets fly from 16 yards. Into the sidnetting.
Wednesday substitution: Nuhio on for Hutchinson as Wednesday go more attacking. That gives Wednesday a colossal target up front, off whom Forestieri and Hooper may feed.
73 min: That goal was completely at odds with nearly everything that had preceded it in a scruffy game. Wednesday are now going to summon something similar if they are to get back into this, while remaining vigilant against Hull counters. Steve Bruce’s side have one foot back in the Premier League...
GOAL! Hull 1-0 Wednesday (Diamé 72)
That’s a heck of a way to beat Westwood! Hull won a breaking ball after a punt from the back and they fed Diamé, who shuffled to make room for a shot and then curled an exquisite effort beyond the keeper from 23 yards!
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69 min: Helan gets Odubajo going backwards, which is presumably what he was sent on to do. But Wednesday’s attack peters out because of yet more slovenly passing.
66 min: The game enters another sloppy phase.
64 min: Odubajo has been Hull’s main source of danger in the second half, regularly charging down the right. He embarks on another run now, making it all the way into the box before Pudil steals the ball with a well-timed sliding tackle.
Wednesday substitution: Helan on for Wallace. The Frenchman’s speed could make a difference here.
61 min: Corner to Wednesday as Forestieri’s shot is deflected wide. He would have been been better advised to pass to Hooper, who was providing an overlap. The corner sails across to the far post, from where Pudil sends a looping header towards goal. Again Jakupovic makes a needless hullabaloo of it, punching imprecisely rather than simply catching the ball.
58 min: Bannan goes walkabouts and leaves Odubajo in acres of space to gallop down the right. The full-back presents an impeccable low cross to Robertson, who had sprinted all the way up from the other full-back slot to find himself in front of goal with a wonderful chance to give his team the lead. That’s meat and drink to a striker, but not to Robertson, alas, as he makes a dog’s dinner of it. He shanks the ball high and wide.
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56 min: Wednesday take charge again - this has been an almost total reversal of the first half so far, even though Hull have had the best chance of this period too. But Wednesday’s final pass remains faulty, which is why they still have’t really troubled Jakupovic.
53 min: Hull emerge from the box that Wednesday had forced them into in the early part of the second half. Snodgrass wins a corner. Much scruffiness ensues but eventually the ball finds its way over to Dawson, in an alarming amount of space just beyond the far post, some eight yards out. Westwood again reacts sharply, dashing off his line to smother another shot.
52 min: Splendid tackle by Davies to prevent Forestieri from getting off a shot after a long ball was allowed to run through to him!
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50 min: Bannan wriggles his way into space mid-way inside the Hull half, then slips the ball into Wallace, who miscontrols. That’s been one of the major themes of this match: sloppiness right at the moment when precision could lead to a real chance.
48 min: Wednesday have started the half on the front foot, spending the opening two minutes deep in opposition territory. Without hinting at creating a chance.
46 min: No substitutions by either side. This game is going to be settled by the keepers, isn’t it? And that’s ominous for Hull ...
Half-time: Hull 0-0 Wednesday
It’s mostly been tight but Westwood has had to make a couple of decent saves to keep out Hull, who enjoyed the majority of possession. Carvalhal will be pleased to have made it to the break on level terms but must know he’ll have to find a way of getting Bannan, in particular, more involved if Wednesday are to reverse the flow of play in the second period. Otherwise they’ll have to rely on sporadic counter-attack and more fine goalkeeping.
45 min: There’ll be just one more minute. Carvalhal looks nervous at the prospect. But he relaxes when he sees Robertson goofily concede a corner. It’s delivered to the back post, where Loovens heads it towards goal from six yards but not with enough power to worry Jaukpovic.
44 min: A freekick and some relief for Wednesday. Wallace tries to curl it into the Hull box from the right. Loovens and Lees both try to get on the end of it but it’s fractionally too high.
41 min: Wednesday look like they just want to get back into the dressing room at level pegging. But Hull are determined to make this pressure pay. Elmohamady plays a delightful ball through to Odubajo, who made an enterprising run up the right - but the full-back’s first touch is gauche, allowing Westwood to smother his eventual shot.
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38 min: Bannan gets on the ball deep in his own half - but Hull quickly converge on him and relieve him of it. Then they work it out Diamé, who sells a couple of lollipops to befuddled defenders at the edge of the area and then bounds into the box. Westwood starts to run out to him but Diamé goes for an early left-footed shot - and crashes out off the post!
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35 min: Hull are enjoying a spell of dominance. They’re grinding their way forward and now spending most of the time probing just outside Wednesday’s box. Carvalhal’s side are holding firm for now but their breaks are becoming rarer and they haven’t been able to get Bannan on the ball at all so far.
32 min: What a save! Elmohamady won possession in midfield and fed Diamé, who pinged it 20 yards forward towards Hernandez. Pudil tries to cut it out but only slows it down. That momentary delay allowed Westwood to surge off his line and he makes a terrific block from Hernandez’s 16-yard shot. And that’s why he’ll likely go to the Euros with Ireland (though not as no1).
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29 min: Dawson is ambushed by two Wednesday player just outside hiw own box. Forestieri tries to punish him by firing into the top corner immediately ... but his sights are woefully misaligned and he sends the ball towards Wembley Park tube station instead.
26 min: How costly will that mistake from Westwood be? He carried the ball over his own byline under token pressure from Snodgrass, giving away a corner. Wednesday’s defending from the corner is equally sloppy, as Davies is allowed to meet it with a free header near the penalty spot. It’s a powerful downward effort ... but Lee is well positioned on the line and blocks it before Hooper completes the clearance as Dawson tried to bundle the ball into the net.
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23 min: Hmmn. The game is in danger of sinking into a stalemate, primarily because both sides lack the final touch when they get into a position to make a breakthrough.
20 min: Robertson raids forward for the first time, cutting in from the left and trying to hook up with Hernandez in the middle. But Loovens steps out to intercept his pass. Suddenly Hooper is charging into the Wednesday half with menace again. The move founders when his pass to Wallace goes awry, but the pattern of play is clear and it’s pleasing the Wednesday fans, who are far noisier and more numerous than Hull’s.
17 min: Hull are having the lion’s (or tiger’s) share of possession but mainly far from the Wednesday goal. Once they enter the final third their caught in Wednesday’s snare and the Owls try to break with speed. It’s making for a fairly gripping game, though not exactly an action-packed one.
14 min: Wallace sends a curling shot at goal from a 25-yard freekick. It’s not travelling fast and should be caught easily but Jakupovic, but instead the keeper decides to punch it away. He could be made to pay for that, as Wallace regains possession and chips a cross towards the back post. But Hull’s defenders do what the keeper should have done and clear the danger decisively.
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11 min: Foresteiri tries to score direct from the freekick despite the acute angle. They’ve evidently been told to test this keeper early doors, but Jakupovic deals with this effort as he should, punching it away without trouble.
10 min: Dawson makes the clearest case you’ll ever see for a yellow card, chopping down Foresteiri as the striker hurtled away from him down the left. The ref duly books the defender, who trots back into the middle to await the delivery of a freekick from a threatening position.
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8 min: Livermore tries to make a burst from central midfield but is foiled. Then Huddlestone tries to do the same, but he too is denied, as Huthcinson wraps as leg around him and nicks the ball away. It’s keenly contested in midfield, almost bogged down.
6 min: Dawson pings a superb diagonal ball from deep to Snodgrass on the left. The Scot takes it in his stride and then cracks a low cross into the danger zone - but there was no team-mate there, Hernanadez having hung deep at the edge of the area. Wednesday clear.
4 min: Huddlestone makes a perfect connection with a shot from 20 yards, tonking ful-force at goal. It was straight at Westwood but the keeper had to show sure hands to hold it, which he did.
3 min: After a low-key couple of minutes, Wednesday decide it’s time to start posing a threat. Wallace receives the ball midway inside the Hull half and takes the opportunity to test Jakupovic - but his shot is charged down by a defender so we’ll have to wait a while longer to see what sort of form the keeper’s in.
1 min: It’s on! Hull spent the first minute giving each other some settling touches, and Wednesday are happy to let them so long as they don’t try to enter the Wednesday half.
Formalities completed, all that remains is for fans to jubilate before kickoff. They’re signing, whooping and chucking balloons and other inflatables about: it’s all going to end in tears for one set of fans so they might as well enjoy it now.
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The teams stand to attention for the national anthem, God Save Our Queen Brought To You In Association with BetYourCash or some such.
Here come the teams, both clad in their traditional garb – minus any headwear, alas, but otherwise this description from a match report in 1876 is close enough to Wednesday’s current get-up: “blue striped jerseys and smuggler’s caps, looking all the world like Dutch sailors.”
Carvalhal is speaking to Sky Sports. Unfortunately it’s not a full-body shot so we can’t see what he’s wearing on his lower limbs, which is a pity because Ian Holloway, a-punditing like only he can, has said “his short trousers are amazing, I don’t know how he gets away with it”. Carvalhal is not asked about that, only about the football, and he says: “We feel absolutely confident. WE have grown up like a team, from 19th position to the playoffs. We beat Brighton, who came third and had 15 points more than us, with our style and our football. We are underdogs but that doesn’t mean we don’t have ambitions to win. Our players know exactly what to do.”
He also suggests that he selected Sam Hutchinson to give the team extra muscle in midfield.
The man team news for Hull, then, is that Allen McGregor is still out with back knack so Eldin Jakupovic will continue in goal. The Swiss will be in for a busy afternoon if Wednesday play with the attacking brio they’ve honed under Carvalhal this season, helped in part by several canny signings, including Bannan, Wallace and Forestieri. Given the herocis of the last of that trio, we should pay tribute to the first foreigner to sign for Wednesday. Ante Mirocevic wasn’t exactly a success at Hillsborough but he paved the way for everyone from Di Canio to Forestieri. And he did score this, too.
Preamble:
Hello and welcome to the Championship playoff final, a whole other kind of Moneyball: today’s winners will gain between £170m and £200m from promotion to the Premier League while the losers will get a pat on the head, a deep pain in their gut and an invitation to begin preparing for another 46 (or 49)-match campaign in the second tier. Those are some high stakes.
But forget about the money and think of the glory: that’s what we’re really interested in here. One of these clubs will rejoin the elite next season after waits of varying length and hardship. Hull, having been a lower-league side for over a century, have been yo-yoing between the top-flight and their more usual station since 2009 and have a strong yearning to establish themselves properly in the Premier League: a good chunk of the team that Steve Bruce will send out today have spent most of their careers in the top division and will feel that’s where they belong, especially as they finished two places and nine points ahead of today’s opponents in the regular season, even if both games between Hull and Wednesday teams ended in draws.
Ah, Wednesday. They used to be somebody, you know. Four times champions of England, three times FA Cup winners and one-time raisers of the League Cup. But they dropped out of the Premier League in 2000 and straight into a kinghell mess made by assorted suits of dubious intellect or intent. But now, as the Wednesday fans sing, the club in on the way back. They were (a) rescued by Milan Mandaric and then (b) sold to a Thai mogul and have now (c) made great strides under a manager from whom few people were expecting anything good: that sequence of events ring any bells? Dilly ding, dilly dong? Are Wednesday in the process of doing a Leicester? Will Carlos Carvalhal end today being almost as feted as Claudio Ranieri? Or will jovial Steve Bruce have the last laugh?
The answer to that will depend on many things. Will the Hull that turns up be the one that battered Derby County 3-0 in the semi-final first leg or the one that nearly threw that lead away in the second-leg after being afflicted by a bad dose of the yips? Carvalhal has shown himself to be a canny and bold tactician this season and is capable of doing what Alex Neil’s Norwich did to Middlesbrough in last year’s final, taking them by surprise to land decisive early blows, probably through the deadly Fernando Forestieri (who is also apt to fall rather cheaply, according to Robet Snodgrass, who has advised today’s ref to keep a close eye on the striker - as should Hull’s defenders). There’ll be twists and turns in this for sure, and possibly also triple pikes and somersaults, if Snodgrass is right. Stay tuned!
Teams:
Hull: Jakupovic; Odubajo, Dawson, Davies, Robertson; Huddlestone, Livermore; Elmohamady, Diame, Snodgrass; Hernandez.
Subs: Kuciak, Bruce, Maguire, Meyler, Maloney, Clucas, Akpom.
Wednesday: Westwood; Hunt, Lees, Loovens, Pudil; Wallace, Hutchinson, Lee, Bannan; Forestieri; Hooper.
Subs: Wildsmith, Matias, Nuhiu, Helan, Joao, Lopez, Sasso.
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